Welcome to Ghost Hunt, and to Sophie Tucker's Gardens .... a land reserved for living artists, but instead preserving the dead.
What else was happening in the 1920s? In 1926 (the same year as the Hall-Mills Trial) world-famous vaudeville star Sophie Tucker announced her intentions to create an artist commune in an era known as Deans, New Jersey--now known as South Brunswick. The artist colony was to be called “Sophie Tucker Gardens” and would offer affordable plots to over 400 families. Tucker even had a grand luncheon in front of the Elks Lodge on Livingston Street to celebrate the real estate venture. Tucker invited New York’s high society to partake in the barbeque and entertainment…. But New Brunswick locals found the food first and ate nearly the entire spread before the A-List guests could arrive from the train station. Sophie’s gay-spirited nature allowed her to laugh the incident off and she ended the event by singing for the entire crowd. For reasons unknown, Sophie’s vision never came to fruition. The last news on the matter reported that Sophie’s brother and business partner decided to turn the land into a cemetery instead!
Teenager Charlotte Mills (slain choir singer’s daughter) would have most certainly heard of Sophie Tucker, aka “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas.” And judging by Charlotte’s self-proclaimed “flapper” status, we believe Charlotte would have been a fan of Sophie Tucker’s confidence, wit, and risqué showmanship. But given Charlotte’s poverty and class status, her imitation of flapper style was more aspirational than actual.
Scan the QR Code to hear Tucker’s music and press here to listen to a theatrical recording of her controversial piece entitled “You're only as good as your last kiss.”